Industrial Design Studio won the Red Dot Award for the third time
11. September 2023The Industrial Design Studio won the prestigious Red Dot Award for the third time in a row, which is awarded as part of one of the world’s most important design competitions, the Red Dot Design Award. The awardee is a graduate of the studio, Martin Kuchta, and his bachelor’s thesis dealing with the design proposal of an autonomous tram called Škoda ForFuture, designed in cooperation with the important Czech group Škoda Group. The award ceremony will be held on 27/09/2023 at the Marina Bay District in Singapore.
The award-winning autonomous tram ForFuture brings an innovative solution for smart cities and represents the future of efficient, reliable and sustainable public transport. “Success is all the more valuable, as Martin Kuchta’s design project won in the largest competition category, Designer Concept, which this year was attended by more than 5,000 creators from all over the world,” says the head of the Industrial Design studio doc. MgA. Martin Surman, ArtD., who supervised the winning bachelor thesis. “At the same time, it is a reaffirmation for us of the strategy of studio teaching, which is based on close cooperation with manufacturing enterprises, through which students are introduced to the most progressive technologies and materials, which enables them to find innovative design solutions,” adds doc. MgA. Martin Surman, ArtD.
Cooperation with students is also praised by the corporate sector. “At Škoda Group, we believe in the power of cooperation and the importance of the growth of a new generation of designers. Clearly, students are the driving force behind progress. They bring new perspectives and bold ideas. We are honored to have been able to take part in this journey and provide our expertise, which helped shape the vision of what future public transport in smart cities could look like,” said Laurent Fromont, Senior Vice President Rolling Stock Engineering at Škoda Group.
Martin Kuchta’s award-winning design of the ForFuture autonomous tram, which is intended for passenger transport in smart cities, uses a unique technical solution for connecting individual vehicles, from which other conceptual innovations are derived, such as chassis platform solutions, drive and power supply methods, autonomous operation, etc. .
The designed tram, which has a length of 17 meters and a capacity of 140 passengers, is able to connect with other vehicles during the journey and, if necessary, increase its total transport capacity. This technical solution makes it possible to assemble a tram from a total of three vehicles with a capacity of up to 420 passengers, while this capacity can be much higher in suburban connections.
The tram is equipped with specialized technical systems that enable precise and fully automated connection of individual vehicles without any collisions. Connecting vehicles significantly increases the efficiency of using the common track section of different tram lines, which saves energy and contributes to environmental protection. At the same time, this technical solution enables a quick and comfortable transfer of passengers between lines and during the journey.
The design of the tram uses the concept of so-called positive lighting, which reflects studies on trust in autonomous vehicles. This corresponds to the designed neutral vertical lights of the vehicle, combined with a friendly “smile” and various warning signals, which enable communication with other drivers driving in front of or behind the tram as well as with pedestrians.
The Red Dot Design Award competition itself awards a total of three design categories every year, in which professional creators as well as students can apply. The first evaluated category is Product Design, which is intended for industrially produced products, the second category is Brands and Communication Design, and the third category is Designer Concept, focused on conceptual solutions and designer prototypes.
text author: doc. MgA. Martin Surman, ArtD.